Photo: Saturday Night Live UK via YouTube

On SNL UK, Cynthia Chinasaokwu Onyedinmanasu Amarachukwu Owezuke Echimino Erivo, best known as Cynthia Erivo, was credited with her full seven-phrase-long Igbo Nigerian name for the first time. In the now-viral “Nigerian Wicked” sketch from this weekend’s show, Erivo stepped into Glinda’s pink stilettos, blonde wig, and velour tracksuit alongside SNL UK’s Ayoade Bamgboye as green-faced Elphaba, to bring Wicked to life as an early 2000s Nollywood production.

When Erivo slaps Bamgboye, Bamgboye exclaims, “Glinda, you slapped me!” and Erivo responds sharply, “Yes, because you are very classless.” Later, wearing new wigs, the pair decide to journey to LagOz to visit the elusive wizard who can make anything appear. “I want a skinny BBL,” Bamgboye says. “She wants a BBL that defies gravity,” the narrator repeats. But when they arrive at the “Emerald White and Emerald City,” they find the wizard (played by Hammed Animashaun) is broke, and instead of having a Rolex, he has a Nolex. In the end, Glinda and Elphaba give in to their sexual tension and dramatically lean into a kiss to the sound of seductive saxophones.

The sketch is being praised for its Nigerian representation and nostalgic accuracy to early century Nigerian films, which had a distinct low-budget production style equipped with explosive transitions, shaky camerawork, highly literal narration, and melodramatic dialogue. Erivo herself seemed especially proud of the sketch, sharing several behind-the-scenes videos to her TikTok in Glinda costume. “Just a Nigerian babes being a babes,” Erivo captioned one video. Bamgboye also wrote on Instagram, “I’m completely blown away by the response to Nigerian Wicked (LGBTQ). I simply must stress that a group of miraculous people put their ALL into this. I wrote the most unhinged thing I’ve ever imagined and Cynthia Erivo made such light work of it. I’ll need another 6-12 months to process what it’s like to witness her craft up close.” The sketch proves that audiences don’t necessarily need to be in on the reference; they can always enjoy and laugh at a sketch’s absurd specificity. As Erivo put it, “Give it to them.”

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